Faeries Afoot by Thomine Wilson

Annual Midsummer’s Night Dream Faerie Party   is afoot and the fun is set to begin on Saturday 23 June  from 8pm to midnight. It will be held at Fusionglass Co  (8872 La Mesa Boulevard  La Mesa, CA 91942) More info Debb Solan 619.461.4440 

Faeries afoot Saturday night as magic, beauty, and artistry were in full swing once again at Fusionglass Co in La Mesa. Owners Debbie Solan and Paul Fernandes hosted their annual Midsummer Night’s Dream Party complete with a decadent array of tasty nibbles, an outpouring of wine, ‘booty bag’ prizes filled with gorgeous jewelry, and exhibits by a select group of talented guest artists whose art was out of this world.

In true form, this Fusionglass party was a terrific success and the crowd tipped to over 200 people. There was a fascinating and creative selection of faerie flair of all colors and the evening was delightfully enchanting. Faerie costumes were plentiful made from recycled wedding and cocktail dresses spray painted and adorned with fluttering floral designs. Gowns were accessorized with faerie wings, an ethereal crown of flowers, and legendary pointy shoes with bells! Other guests were wrapped in a bounty of colorful hand painted silks that were truly a feast for the eyes. More daring faeries pranced in their frilly lace PJs complete with sequin bedroom slippers and a sprinkling of fairy dust to spread throughout the glorious night air. Included among the guests was a tribe of camouflaged warriors who provided just the right touch of forestry to protect the spirited crowd.

New this year was an appearance by a masked man from Mardi Gras who surprised the crowd and greeted each guest with sparkling beads and baubles from faraway lands. Also featured was a photo booth with a selection of feathered faerie wings to try on and fly if you dared.

Paul Fernandes, a natural behind the microphone, belted out the names of prizewinners every 15 minutes throughout the entire evening while the strumming guitars of Pound Dog played familiars from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

Guest artists included Julie Arroyo whose watercolor and Chinese calligraphy on wood added a hint of serenity to the fairytale night. Leah ‘Nina’ Carter exhibited an exquisite line of organic and geometric jewelry inspired by nature and made of a mix of copper, brass, and silver. Kira Carrillo Corser’s painted photographs using pastels, inks, and oil pencils were inspirational and contained stunning and fantastic imagery. Peggy Hinaeken’s atmospheric and lyrical etchings and lithographs depicted historical and literary figures that made a lovely addition to the tales of the evening. Finally, Emily Vermillion’s black ink drawings of faerie lore and garden flowers provided a sensation of beauty and renewal among the mystical moments of this magical do.

As the clock struck midnight, there were lots of vixens vying for attention and a very beautiful faerie won the grand jewelry prize. There’s definitely a tale to tell of Fusionglass and all the faeries…but you will have to wait till next Mid Summer’s Night when the clock strikes 8 and there are faeries at your gate. Come ready for entertainment, beautiful art, generous prizes, and a night filled with fun and laughter! Keep your eyes open for more magical happenings at Fusionglass Co.

Thomine Wilson (pronounced Tom-in-e) is a San Diego artist who is working to promote the ‘Employee Art Program’, a training alliance composed of professional educators who help organizations accelerate business performance and foster sustainability through on site arts-based learning, culture change agents, and innovation experts.

New Contemporaries V

New Contemporaries V at Susan Street Fine Art Gallery exhibiting all the nominated emerging artists for the SD Art Prize from June 2 to July 3. Shawnee Barton, Lauren Carrera, Noah Doely, Rob Duarte, Alexander Jarman, Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, Lee M. Lavy, Ingram Ober, Vincent Robles, Deanne Sabeck, David Leon Smith, Brian Zimmerman  Opening Reception: June 7 from 6 to 9 pm (200 North Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach, 92075) More info: Melissa Stager 858.793.4442

Now in its fifth year, this showcase for emerging artists in San Diego, never fails to entertain and enlighten us. The artists are chosen for the show by the 2011 SD Art Prize recipients and their champions who are art professionals. There is never duplication in the nominators, spreading the circle of influence ever wider with each show. Melissa Sager was the curator of this show for Susan Street Fine Art and she did a masterful job of choosing and setting the works in the gallery to honor each of them. Amazingly, nothing was out of balance and you could start anywhere in the relatively small space and begin your journey of discovery.

On arrival I noticed the collaged installation by Alexander Jarman immediately. It is rich with imagery mostly floral and body parts in fun warm colors. It was designed with a circle motif and then Jarman grew the work expanding and adding drips and even a shadow portrait. At first glance it seems like wall paper gone loony, but it has staying power.   

Shawnee Barton’s small pair of drawings juxtaposing a car crash and an ice cream cone was endearing and scary at the same time. I found it more potent than the very large circular work “honoring” her newborn.  Lee M. Lavygave us a very sellable rendition of some of his works from the Ice Gallery. He presented three canvases in greys that would fit into many architecturally modern homes. David Leon Smith,’s animals imbued with human foibles are strong and funny and make us look twice at his almost cartoon styling. Only one small work by Noah Doely rounded out the two dimensional work in the show.  Doely’s painstaking technique and calls from other galleries meant a less than dynamic showing of his work, but you would do well to look at his website for a further understanding of this faux historical documentations.

Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli,’s homage to Marne and Marilyn intrigued and satisfied. We understand that there is a mounted accident in her personal life reflected in the mixed media installation of horse and human hair, sound recording, photography. Marilyn’s diary pages are created but re-contextualized to highlight and sensitize the fragility of this tragic icon. They are pencil renderings of the diary with only the most potent of phrases included, one or none on a page.

Vincent Robles and Deanne Sabeck were chosen by Arline Fisch and Jeffery Laudenslager who will be mentoring them for the show at the Art SD Contemporary Fair in Balboa Park in Sept and the Athenaeum Art and Music Library in La Jolla next year. Vincent is showing his rough roller coast version of a step ladder and also a banister like circle of highly crafted wood. Ms. Fisch chose him as a fellow maker of things. Laudenslager and Sabeck have collaborated on past projects and might even attempt our first collaborative work for the SD Art Prize. Her 3-d wall works use dichromatic glass and a special light source to bring life to the geometric designs. It is the colored shadows that steal the show. 

Rob Duarte’s sound machine functions as a sculpture as well as speakers. Brian Zimmerman shows an older work of digital word art along with a recently deconstructed and very playful set of chairs. Lauren Carrera was my choice of artist for the show as the four members of the SD Art Prize are also allowed to make nomination. She made a strong installation of mini shelves each hosting a clear bag with fish lures or a miniature scene of tiny humans. This is a variation on her successful current show at the NTC Liberty Station called Museo de Profundo Mundo. Carrera is dealing with issues of over fishing and pollution as she creates a fictitious archeological exploration.  

I was most impressed with Ingram Ober. He gives us multiple variations on his Vantasy series. A photo sets the scene but it is a miniature van photographed to look like a full size one and reflected in the window of the van is the sculpture that resides in the back space of the gallery. This beautiful monolith with it superb finish is the cleaned up equivalent of those Cadillac Ranch graffiti cars in Texas. And the play continues, with the chocolate molded cars covered in shiny colored tin foil. Ober just looks like he is having such a good time and therefore, so do we.

Art meet technology and wins! by Keikichi Honna

If my memory is correct, it was several years after "talking" ATM machines instructing customers with automated voice, complete with crude animation of a female bank teller bowing and saying "thank you for your business" had became ubiquitous, when a camera company started marketing a new product - a talking camera.  I was young and still ignorant of the pain of wearing eyeglasses all the time, so I didn't see the point.  My only thought was why it's always same old automated female voice.  Since they were only a handful of simple instructions, it should've been easy to implement different voices which users could select - male or female celebrities, or deep soothing voice of a veteran anchorman from NHK telling "say cheese" when pressing the shutter would be nice.  (It's still not too late for camera/toy campanies to implement voice of Justin Bieber, or Elmo in cameras.  I think they can sell)

Fast forward to 21st century comes SIRI.  As long as TV ads go, it seems possessing rudimentary conversational skills.  Considering its accessibility to a vast database, it may even pass Turing test sometime soon.  I'm sure right now someone mesmerized by "her" quick wit and intelligence is in love with Siri, and within a few years there will be, though just symbolic, a first ever wedding ceremony between a human and an i-phone.  (married life of a man and i-phone will be strictly Platonic, unless considering some form of phone sex, if it's even possible.  On the other hand relationship between a female and i-phone can be...)

I'm not interested in wasting time with cellphone for now, however when Siri is no longer Siri, but called Emily, Audry, or Tracy,
and implement the voice of impossibly adorable Zooey Deschanel, then, I may switch to a smartphone.  And I may even profess my unconditional affection toward said handheld device.  (Or Siri being Mikey with deep soothing voice of Mike Rowe, and I'll have some philosophical conversation with "him."  Voice of Elmo on Siri would cause sirious violence)

That wont happen.  I can't bear the thought of repeated rejection of my advance, or more precisely constantly denied access.
"Sorry Keikichi, what did you say?"  Or "Sorry, I can't understand."

Augmented Reality summary

By Patricia Frischer

One of the four projects of the DNA of Creativity project (the Batt App) is going to have an augmented reality (AR) component. I had no idea what that meant this time last year, but bit by bit I am learning about this exciting new area of communication. I hope to give you a brief description of my discoveries and some links so you can see for yourself how exciting this technology really is that combines elements from the physical and the virtual world to create new experiences at home, in business, and by smart phone where ever you are connected to the internet.

Please note in my descriptions below, you must click on the links to really get an idea as no written explanation is adequate to describe these new technologies.  

I went to a presentation in May produced by Commnexus called Augmented Reality: Is It Real? hosted by the law firm Mintz Levin. The first presenter, Mike Gonzales, Creative Director and Brand Digital Manager of Wow Wee USA Inc is producing a line of AR toys under the brand AppGear which will sell for only $9.95. That is an incredible price when you realize that the child (or child at heart) will get a toy that acts as a marker to launch the technology similar to computer games purchases as dvds. The toys will be collectable and the AR component will lengthen the play time from the usual few hours to days and days of interaction.

This is the natural progression when the ipad, computer and smart phone become the playthings of our young people. The company started with a $100 robot which sold 6 million units and will probably come out with a $39.95 robot that will allow you to use your smart phone to see smoke trails when rockets are launched and do virtual repairs. But the first set of apps will include a small toy plane (Foam Fighters)  which attaches to your device and makes that device into a control panel for flying through the digital landscape. It has gaming capacity for multiple players and other games in this line can make your tabletop into a game board. Mike has produced toys in the Far East, but lives and has his head office in Carlsbad.

That brings me to our star local company Qualcomm which is no longer making actual phones but streaming ahead with software. Jay Wright, Senior Director, Business Development, Qualcomm is so confident of the augmented reality technology that the firm is offering free software to develop apps using it called  Vuforia.    Go to this link to see some incredible videos of what this software can do.  This, more than anything, has convinced me that AR is not a flash in the pan, but an alternate reality that will be here to stay. Retailers will use the AR apps and that will generate income and of course, apps will continue to be sold for $.99 in the millions.

Qualcomm sees AR in three distinct areas: 1. gaming and play (like WooWee), 2. Interactive media (like offering more information at point of sale, expanded advertising techniques and added value in use of products) and the last big area is 3. instructional (all those how to use, construct and repair manuals will be interactive). I loved the catsup bottle label that turns into a recipe book.

The goal is to treat your phone as much like your eye as possible. Not many of the applications that I have learned about have actually materialized yet, but they are really coming. They already have 26,000 software designers using the software which recognizes 400 phones and already 800 apps have been developed. There are challenges that the technology faces.  These programs are battery suckers and there is no unified viewer so you have to download each app. The idea of AR glasses or goggles is still in the future.  

We have no idea at this stage what aspects we will be incorporating into our upcoming smart phone application for SDVAN. Will we use it for promotion or will our resources be able to use it to add layers of information to their programs? We are only at the beginning of this research.  

Here are two more links that are already resident on the DNA of Creativity Blog. If you are not yet following this blog, it is great fun to see the variety of art and science collaboration that are out there.

Augmented Reality Pop Up Books - DNA Of Creativity

Mar 24, 2012

Augmented Reality Pop Up Books. Augmented Reality Pop Up... NokiaTattoo that vibrates

Augmented Reality Tshirts and business cards - DNA Of Creativity

Jan 08, 2012

In our sample DNA of Creativity application we give a link to Elipse augmented reality. You can use your phone to see added featured on images that are processed to be recognizable by the camera of your smart phone.

Encinitas Arts Festival and The Door is Open

1^st Annual Encinitas Arts Festival is being held on  Sat May 5 from 10am-4pm at the Encinitas Community and Senior Center (1141 Oakcrest Park Drive,Encinitas,  92024). More info: Jim Gilliam 760.633.2260 or 2746

I went to this arts day expecting to see adorable little children leaping and spinning, painting and pasting and I was not disappointed. Who can resist watching kids in a tutu?  But it was so much more. I saw an extraordinary African drum group with jiving dancers Diop Percu, swirling belly dancers Glitter Dance Company, a  sexy latin dancer with so many costume changes it was also a fashion show Ooh La La Dance Company , Polynesian and Tahitian dancers Kailani’s Wahines, singers and musicians Paris-Rio Connection , Bridget Dolkas, Lars Hoefs, Peter Sprague, and a reading of Russet written  by 12 year old Kira Nolan by the Playwrights Project . This was all pulled together by Jim Gilliam with help from Sandra Jordon from all over the Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff by the Sea district. With two major stages and workshops and art displays, this was a something for everyone event and too much for any one person to experience. For those of you who remember Brava put on by the Performing Arts League, this was like a mini version and could have the potential to be a revelation for those with little knowledge of the abundant talent of these cities who boast more artist per capita than any in our county.

The Door is Open: An Intergenerational Dance Project with Kira Carrillo Corser sets as recipient of the SD Foundation Creative Catalyst Grant is on May 18 at 8 pm and May19 2 & 8 pm presented by Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater at  City College Saville Theatre 14th and C Street, SD 92101. More info: Toni Robin  619.225.1803

I went to this performance expecting to see elderly dancers leaping and spinning and although that did not happen, the younger dancers that were a collaborative part of this performance did not disappoint. Jean Isaacs’s super story telling through dance was aided by the sets by Kira Corser. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between the dancers and the graphic displayed, but the charming stories of the senior citizens were touchingly told and filmed by Ms. Corser and these snippets informed all the dance performances. We enjoyed the remembrances of a lovely fluffy pink dress, a cry to god for the disappointments, and a strong and agile lullaby to a pair of new twin grandchildren. The older dancers were so charming and gentile that this was a very special performance and it was a true privilege to see how the two generations of dancers interacted. We hope that the video made by Kira Corser will spread the word about how beneficial this type of interaction truly is in making our society

A+ Art Blog: Big Art Big Bucks

Andy Warhol's "Double Elvis" sold for $37 million

Lichtenstein's "Sleeping Girl," depicting a woman with closed eyes and flowing blond hair, fetched $44,882,500;

Francis Bacon's "Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror" — sold for $44,882,500.

Edvard Munch's "The Scream" for $119.9 million

You add these and many many more similar auction sales and this explains how sales of art in auction in 2011 have come back to the $31 billion level that they attained in 2007 after the dip in 2008/9/10.  To put that in context, in the early nineties, sales were only in the hundreds of millions. We owe this current upsurge to the China and Asian markets. These figures comes from the cultural economist Clare McAndrew in a report for the European Fine Art Foundation. Sotheby’s just announced that sale in the May 2012 evening sale were $266,591,000.

How do those sales further break down? Peter Schjeldahl explains it in his New York article, All is Fairs. Modern and Contemporary art now accounts for 70% of art sold world wide. China then the US followed by the UK and a far fourth France are the nationalities that are buying. Half the sales happen in the auction houses like Christies and Sothebys but another $30 billion takes place in about 380,000 galleries and private dealers. Those two big figures, if you have not already done the math total over $60 billion a year in 2011.

I like this quote from Sarah Nicole Prickett  in her article The rise and rise of the art fair  in the Globe and Mail, “To see how art reaches the museum, the canon, you have to go to the fairs. I do not know if you can understand art without understanding the price of it. I suppose you could stick to an old-fashioned snob's dislike of art fairs, but that would be like eating meat, you know, without ever going to the butcher's shop.”

Private dealers do 31% of their business now in art fairs. Another quick calculation and you find a bit under $20 billion is spent for art at art fairs. Figures are not in for this year’s Frieze Art Fair at its first time in New York, but I think we can expect it to be over the $200 million that was made at the 2007 Frieze London. Amanda Sharp with and Matthew Slotover are the producers of the Frieze Art Fair and she says that 80 percent of the 45,000  visitors don’t buy art, but the arrival of this fair in the US heralds a change for New York. Although they had 10 other art fairs in March, none were on the scale or with the quality of Frieze.

Ann Berchtold who produced Art San Diego Contemporary Fair has followed the model of Frieze with focus on individual artists and specially curated spaces. The SD Art Prize at the fair is one very good example of this showcase of excellence. Last year, we managed for the first time with the help of sales of work by Adam Belt and Jay Johnson, to almost finance the prize for 2012.

You can see emerging artists nominated for the SD Art Prize at New Contemporaries V at Susan Street Fine Art Gallery opening on Thursday June 7th, 2012 from 6pm-9pm  showing from June 2 to July 3, 2012
Shawnee Barton, Lauren Carerra, Noah Doely, Rob Duarte, Alexander Jarman, Anna Lavatelli, Lee M. Lavy, Ingram Ober, Vincent Robles, Deanne Sabeck, David Leon Smith, Brian Zimmerman 
 200 North Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach, CA 92075 More info: Melissa Stager 858.793.4442

You can see the SD Art Prize 2012 show at Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair Sept 6-9, 2012
Arline Fisch with emerging artist to be announced on June 7 and Jeffery Laudenslager with emerging artist to be announced on June 7, Balboa Park Activity Center, 2145 Park Boulevard, San Diego 92101

A+ Art Blog Patricia Frisher, the coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, writes these occasional notes. To leave a comment about this blog or see other comments, please go to the BLOG SPOT LINK

Collecting is a Wonderful Illness

Collecting is a Wonderful Illness on Nowness.com.

Simon de Pury and Daphne Guinness in Conversation, Part One

Auctioneer and art world impresario Simon de Pury sits down with friend and cultural patron Daphne Guinness to speak about connoisseurship and collecting in part one of a double-bill feature by filmmaker Johnnie Shand Kydd. Chairman and Chief Auctioneer of renowned auction house Phillips de Pury & Company, De Pury is often referred to as “the Mick Jagger of the auction world,” due to his lively auctioning style. Fluent in English, French, German and Italian, the Swiss-born dealer also owns an important private collection of contemporary art, acquired over several decades spent with gavel in hand. “Simon is obviously a grand seducer, and there was this wonderful element of flirtation going on,” says Shand Kydd of the tète-à-tète, “You can't fake that kind of chemistry." De Pury splits his time between London and New York, where he will preside over the sale of a Willem de Kooning estimated at $15m and a $12m Jean-Michel Basquiat at Phillips de Pury’s latest contemporary art auction this Thursday. “Collecting is a very personal and private occupation,” explains De Pury. “One does not necessarily wish to divulge one's passions.” That said, NOWNESS coaxed De Pury into revealing five of his favorite pieces from his collection. 

A group of Italian 1950s plastic Disney characters that I found in a small antiques shop in Rome. I collect high and low. All works I buy tickle my curiosity when I see them first, and in my private collection I do not rank anything by price.

The desk, chair, lamp and Universe logo from the Star Trek movie that I bought from Pierre Passebon at the first or second Design Miami fair. After having seen one slick piece of pure and beautiful design after the other, it was very refreshing to stumble across something fun and leftfield.

One of Helmut Newton’s nudes, shot at Chateau Marmont, was the first photograph I ever bought. Since being a teenager I worshipped his work. I bought it in an auction in London and was forbidden to hang it by my first wife when I brought it home.

I’ve been obsessed with Christopher Wool's work ever since I first saw it in the Whitney Biennial in the early 90s. I have been fortunate enough to acquire several works of his at a time when it was still quite accessible. I love his most recent work with which he proves he is one of the Greats.

My most recent purchase is a large drip work by Piotr Uklanski. There is great variety in his work and he never ceases to surprise me.

The San Diego Art Institute Regional Awards Exhibition Sparks Some Memorable Works: By Cathy Breslaw

The San Diego Art Institute’s current Regional Awards Exhibition is a large display of ninety works, selected from 360 entries by judge, Deborah Klochko, Executive Director of the Museum of Photographic Arts. The exhibition is a combination of painting, sculpture, drawings, photography, monotype and assemblage. As it is with many open call competitions, quality and technical skill of the artists included varies greatly, but several works emerge as standouts.

Artist Diane Brunner’s sculptural work “Be Fabulous - Don’t Let One Thing Ruin Your Life”, is a charming mixed media piece portraying a ton of small paper maiche human figures, signs and messages, animals, boats, buildings and the ocean- all crowded into a small space. The work creates the sense of the bustling,lively activity of the San Diego harbor during tourist season - all seemingly sliding off of a somewhat vertical plane. The piece is protected by a clear acrylic frame.

Warren Bakley’s “Relic”, a quietly compelling clay stoneware wall sculpture, portrays an abstract-like figure of a man in neutral gray-black tones. The face, which curiously has no features, almost seems to be melting or burning however the gesture of the figure appears stoic. The figure’s abstract forms create the feeling of a traveler dressed from an earlier era in time.

 “The Dream I Had Today”, an assemblage by artist Michael McAlister, is a wall piece - a small black chest housing a white skull-like object, stone, cork, photograph, and medicine bottle. A serpent-like head sits atop the chest leaving the viewer to wonder what personal story that snake might tell if he could talk.

 Cheryl Griffith’s “Hope”, a monotype with dry point which received a merit award, is a personal and charming tribute to the idea of “hope”. It portrays a young boy’s head looking out sideways with a bluebird perched on his head. A quote about “hope”  by Emily Dickinson is printed prominently across the figure, seemingly indicating Griffith’s heartfelt thoughts about “hope”.

The quietly present and smaller work “Floating City”, by Brandon Holmes, is a well crafted detailed realistic graphite drawing portraying Romanesque buildings, eighteenth century sailing vessels and three figures holding up some of the buildings. This fantastical drawing appears to be structured around the front end of a ship suggesting a mythological story that only the artist knows.

Across a vertically painted gray wall, artist Judith Parenio exhibits “Pollen”, a well designed sculptural work made of several hexagonal wooden/encaustic elements referring  to shapes in a honeycomb. Bats, birds, bees, and plants are the subject matter suggesting Parenio’s obvious love of nature.

 “Modern Woman Story” by Bhavna Mehta, is a black paper-cut work attached to a framed white background. As a traditional Indian art form spanning hundreds of years, this piece follows well In this traditions’ footsteps. Mehta depicts a personal journey of childhood symbols- kites, daisies, a girl playing basketball and reading a biology book.

 In the category of painting, there were three pieces of note by Eva D’Amico, John Brodie and Lauren Carrerera. D’Amico’s “Protecting Innocence”, refers to impressionistic painting whose subject of a young girl sleeping, intermingles with branches of a tree. This acrylic painting with a beautifully limited color palette expresses the artist’s love of movement and form. John Brodie’s “Fabulous Beast of Uncertain Returns”, is a boldly colored acrylic painting on clear polyester that seems to reference African masks and female symbols. Wildly expressed forms, brushwork and colors are curiously set against the backdrop of a formal abstract composition. Last, but not least, “The Audition” by Lauren Carrera, is a large abstract oil painting which is reminiscent of color field painting. It is a subtle mixture of turquoises, warm tones and burnt oranges in an overall tiny quilt-like pattern, like a blanket covering us in the fall season.

This exhibition runs through May 13^th

Cathy Breslaw is a southern California visual artist, writer and lecturer who has had over 25 solo exhibitions, and 50 group exhibitions across the country at museums, art centers, college and university galleries and commercial galleries. Her work can be found in many private and corporate collections.

Her work and writing can be seen at:

www.cathylbreslaw.com

www.artfullifebycathy.blogspot.com

cathybreslaw@roadrunner.com

A+ Art Blog: Three Things You Can Do to Help the Art World

I was recently asked to be on a panel in El Cajon at Studio C Contemporary  where artists, journalists, writers, university professors, critics, and business people discussed the role the arts play in bettering East County and its diverse population. The panel was mediated by Justin Hudnall, creator and leading operative of The Far East Movement. One question he asked was, “Do you think East County can host and support an art community?” My answer, in looking at the healthy crowd in attendance, was that it was already supporting an art community. I would rather see a “fake it til you make it” can do stance than the inferiority complex driven attitude that is still all to prevalent in SD. But having said that, here are three suggestions to challenge every reader into action. (you can watch the video of the panel at this link https://vimeo.com/41384166)

1. More Curators: Commercial and University Galleries and Museums should hold, at least once a year, an open call for curators to propose exhibitions. I don’t mean artists submitting their work for showing or even grouping together with friends to show. I mean really interesting theme shows which showcase what happening here in the underground spaces and pop up galleries. Alexandra Moctezuma is open to these kinds of proposals at the Mesa Collage Art Gallery and the students from her Gallery case are often putting together exhibitions at other venues like Space4Art. She offers the only hands-on program in Museum Studies and Gallery Management. We need to encourage independent curators and I might as well put in a plug for more independent art critics as well.
     
2. Traveling Exhibitions: Collaborations should be made to put together exhibitions so that each has at least two venues for display – North, East, South or Central. Making the effort to organize a really wonderful exhibition is wasted if it is not seen by more people.  It makes sense to travel shows around the community especially when it take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half to get from North to South in our county. I miss lots of local events, as I do try to cover the whole county, but with fuel cost so high and public transportation so difficult, why not bring the art to the people. These collaborations would also help unite our community and I believe that is a strength that can produce more funding, more energy and more audience. Maybe this is happening somewhere in SD, but I have not noticed it.
   
   
   
3. Artists Projects for Schools: Artists should be proactive in organizing art initiative for schools, especially those with under privileged students.  We are excited that the Artist Teaching Institute is funded by the SD Foundation and should start in the fall. Bravo to Jennifer Oliver for working so diligently to enable more artists to be professionally trained to teach. But there are many spontaneous projects that could be happening as well. For example, take a look at  Janet Cooling and her latest commission for the Harriet Tubman Charter School in the SDSU College Area. The glass mosaic painting will be 7’x19’ over the entrance of the school auditorium. She is paying for supplies herself plus fundraising by selling works from her own studio and SDSU students' art to fund this display which will add a level of creative energy to this school that almost looks like a prison.
   
   And speaking about funding, how about this new idea for SD called Pizza Parlay. Up until the Thursday before each Parlay, you can send proposals for creative projects that could use a bit of funding to raise them off the ground or to the next level. Pizza Parlay will take place one Sunday a month, usually the last. Parlay-goers will each receive a packet of proposals to review over pizza, and everyone will vote on site. Proceeds from the $12 per person cover donation will be granted to the winning proposal. The more people attend, the bigger the grant. Urbanistguide.com will announce the winner the Monday after the Parlay, and unlike most grants, winners will receive the award immediately. The locations vary each month but the next is Sunday April 29th, from 5-7pm at URBN Coal Fired Pizza & Bar 3085 University. At the last one $460 was awarded to Elias Sidney Blood won for a short film. 
    

Artists every where should raise the bar and be challenged to make better art work…work that is challenging, exciting, emotionally saturated, honest, enlivening and reflective of our wishes and desires.

There are many who are taking the initiative and working on projects. Hats off to: Jolee Pink who started her own Encinitas Foodie Fest: to showcase artists and sustainability; Sandi Cottrell of Mission Federal Art Walk for giving student scholarships, this year to Stephanie Wang (SDVAN sponsors this with mentor training); to Sherri Fox of Trios Gallery for transforming an Encinitas storefront into a mini Trios a Go Go; to SmartSpace Gallery a brand new idea to locate art in modern executive office suites; to Girl Fest San Diego at Art Lab Studios for providing a space for individuals to create a vision of freedom; Sixteen Plus One Art the first show of a new space at the On Assignment Studios and Gallery. These are just a few of the items listed in our RAW column for April.

Joe Brubaker: The Exquisite Garden

Joe Brubaker: The Exquisite Garden is showing at the William D. Cannon Gallery in Carlsbad ( 1775 Dove Lane) from Apr. 1 – June 24, 2012.

We arrived at the gallery and were delighted to see that it had been completely transformed. No longer the white box but instead a garden of deathly delights. The atmosphere was one of a cemetery at night, dark with shadowy shapes. When you looked close you saw sculptures by the artist Joe Brubaker, almost all carves wood figures with the look of outsider art but of course, this is not the case. Brubaker and two San Diego artists (Vista sculptor Elon Eubanks and Carlsbad muralist Ron Juncal) and two art students from MiraCosta College joined the crew of 12 who contributed found object assemblages dropped from the ceiling and rising from islands of foliage from cardboard trees. The audience was fascinated as there was so much to see. It only lacked a participation element. I longed to add a little piece of trash of my own to mark my spot.

UCSD Open Studios 2012

UCSD 2012 Open Studios Crowd from Emily Grenader on Vimeo.

UCSD Open Studios 2012 have come again with this year’s crop of emerging artists. .Sat. April 7, 1-7 pm at UCSD Visual Arts Department, UCSD, La Jolla 92083 More info Sheena Ghanbari 858.822.7755

I have been following the work of several of the UCSD students for a few years now. You see them working as raw students, trying to find their way through the ivory towers of learning. They too many times learn art speak as a way to boast your confidence in their work. I am always drawn to those student willing to talk to me openly and clearly, but sometimes the work does speak for itself.

Josh Tonies presented visually interesting video last year with lots of optical tricks. Interestingly, he was able to do that with still images of ships this year. They appear almost sliced and diced and futuristic and fantasy all at the same time. But at first glance they may appear to just look like a commercial for a cruise. And with Titantic in all the headlines this week, it seems he was riding a wave.

Emily Grenader disarmed me with sly little portraits of chef used on ice cream containers. I loved the whole idea of the glass refridgerated display as an art display. Let’s hope she brings this project to San Diego soon. In the meantime her group portraits which she was assembling from the visitors was charming and you can now see me above about the fourth row down on the left bending over to kiss Katherine Sweetman in a video painting. So much fun!!!.


Brian Zimmerman was there showing his new works and you will get a change to see him at the SDVAN New Contemporaries show at Susan Street Fine art opening on June 7 in Solana Beach.

"Ring around the Rosie" New Works by Tom Torluemke

Marie Antoinette

 

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies;
Hush! hush! hush! hush!
We’re all tumbled down.

“Though it seems at times as if nothing could rout him out of the inertia in which he is entrenched, it is quite possible that he may one day be shocked into a greater state of awareness.  Precept and example seem to have had little effect: basically the civilized man is little different from primitive man.  He has not accepted the world, neither has he shown any desire to partake of the reality which invests it.  He is still bound to myth and taboo, still the slave of the victim of history, still the enemy of his own brother.  The simple, obvious truth, that to accept the world is to transform it, seems utterly beyond his powers of comprehension.”
- Henry Miller, The Hour of Man

“So I’ll tell you what I would like.  I would like some bad-acting and wrong-thinking.  I would like to see some art that is courageously silly and frivolous, that cannot be construed as anything else.  I would like a bunch of twenty-three-old troublemakers to become so enthusiastic, so noisy, and so involved in some stupid, seductive, destructive brand of visual culture that I would feel called upon to rise up in righteous indignation, spewing vitriol, to bemoan the arrogance and self-indulgence of the younger generation and all of its artifacts.”
- Dave Hickey, Frivolity and Unction 

And so would I Mr. Hickey… 

Hickey and Miller what a pair!  A generation or so separates them at birth yet they arrive at the same elegant conclusion.  They beg us to awaken to the “obvious truth” that to live fully in this world as a Man or Woman we must, we are obligated, in fact condemned to “transform it.”  It is also a responsibility artists must share - otherwise, go out and get a fucking job.  You are after all, the perfect example of a contemporary peripatetic global artist.  You will survive.  Nonetheless, be it for better or worse, we cannot as “civilized man” or “twenty-something” woman continue to ignore this.  The result will inevitably be we’re all tumbled down or strip-searched.
 
I am concerned about this and so is Tom Torluemke it appears.  But Torluemke is an artist; society tells us he’s supposed to worry about these things: war, famine, death, and erections.  He is after all, the sensitive type.

“The Greeks colored their statues, the Spaniards slaughtered their bulls, The Germans invented Hasenpfeffer, we dream and act impatient, hoping for fame without labor, admiration without a contract, sex with an erection.”
- Larry Rivers and Frank O’Hara, excerpt from How to Proceed in the Arts

However, there are very few artists or memorable works that have actually succeeded in transforming the world if at all (it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try).  There are those however, like the cognoscenti and their pocketbooks, who will disagree.  Pay them no mind.  Those artists who have opened our eyes to the way the world is, and nowadays it ain’t pretty, do so by remaining relevant.  Their works mirror society, its culture and politics, and tell us something about its people.  An artist’s work is only a snapshot of a particular moment in the continuum, like a photograph, it can only tell us so much.  Could the French Revolution been what it was without Jean-Paul Marat and the painter Jacques-Louis David? 

Tom Torluemke has been making art for over thirty years and I don’t see him stopping anytime soon.  It coincides with his devout belief in the transformative and eye-opening (revelatory) power of art.  He does not produce snake-oil.  We should be grateful and excited for what he offers and thankful for showing us who we truly are - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.


Read more here

East county panel discussion on the arts

Silvia Valentino and Carlos Castrejon of STUDIO C Contemporary are hosting: Artists, journalists, writers, university professors, critics, and business people who will discuss the role the arts play in bettering East County and its diverse population. The panel will be mediated by Justin Hudnall, creator and leading operative of The Far East Movement. Additionally, the panel discussion will coincide with the closing reception of The Black and White Show at Studio C, featuring 21 of Southern California's most prominent contemporary visual and music artists, who will also be in attendance. After the panel, we will have an experimental music performance by Chris Warren and The Bitwise Operators.

Panelists include: Seema Sueko from the (San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Commission), Felicia Shaw (The San Diego Foundation), Kevin Freitas (Art As Authority), Eldonna Lay (El Cajon Historical Society), and Patricia Frischer (San Diego Visual Arts Network).  Moderator: Justin Hudnell

We hope that you take this opportunity to contribute to our cause in making East County and El Cajon a better place for the arts to thrive!

Studio C Contemporary

140 E Main St., El Cajon, CA 92020

Friday, April 13, 2012 - 5:30pm

SD Art Prize 2011 show and 2012 announced

Adam Belt installation

Tristan Shone performance

Ruben Ortiz Torres (smiling!)

Adam Belt and Jay Johnson

San Diego Art Prize 2011 Exhibition of Ruben Ortiz-Torres with emerging artist Tristan Shone and Jay Johnson with emerging artist Adam Belt . Reception on March 30, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. show until May 5, 2012 at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall St. La Jolla, 92037) More info:press@ljathenaeum.org 858.454.5872

Adam Belt has this magical room of pin point light heightened by a subtle fog in the air which shows up streams of light. It was exquisite. Ruben Ortiz Torres exceeded himself by showing very saleable single color canvases with candy colored glitter paint all of which was heat sensitive/.. These painting looked like you should never touch them, but you were invited to do so. Such a thrill. Tristan Shone's performance with 7 musicians singing through his mouth protector masks was haunting and wild and the audience seems to really get it which was thrilling. Jay Johnson showed a similar work to one at the Art Fair that we displayed last September but and also a new work of collaged found objects, very witchy and Edgar Allen Poe-ish. A terrific full house. crowd showed them support for this fifth year of the art prize. The Award Recipients for 2012 were announced and they are Arline Fisch jeweler and sculptor and Jeffery Laudenslager, kinetic sculptor. They will be choosing their emerging artists later this year. We also announced the launch on Thursday June 7 of the New Contemporaries V show of all emerging artists nominated in 2012 at Susan Street Fine Art Gallery

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